The full political impact of Rob Ford’s removal as mayor may depend largely on how Judge Charles Hackland’s decision is received by voters.

There is no denying that Mr. Ford’s two years as mayor have been a disappointment in many respects. While he has done a credible enough job on the issue for which he was elected – getting the city’s finances in some kind of order – he has frittered away much of the goodwill he might have expected through the seemingly unending series of scrapes, escapades and public embarrassments of which he was the focus. The mayor seemed to have only one interest – controlling spending – and once some headway had been made on that front he spent most of his time getting himself needlessly into trouble. From skipping meetings so he could coach his football team, to haranguing city employees to spruce up the area around his family business, to run-ins with frightened reporters and cellphone photos of his eating and driving habits, Mr. Ford has spent far more time in the news over trivialities than he has overseeing the city. In the process he significantly diminished his own credibility and the stature of his office.

His loss of clout has not necessarily empowered the alternative, however. What happens now depends to what degree Ford Nation continues to exist, and its reaction to the ruling against him. Ford’s victory in the 2010 election was largely a response to the perception that Toronto council had become a prisoner of the left, which governed exclusively for a downtown core of entitled free spenders with an agenda that ignored suburban voters and the issues that mattered to them. Those same left-wingers made it clear they had little interest in cooperating with the new regime, and the split has only grown worse as Mayor Ford, his brother Doug and a dwindling core of allies sought to bulldoze through their program with bluster and bullying in place of reasoned argument and efforts at compromise. As a result, council has become all but dysfunctional, the two extremes at constant war with one another while a smattering of moderates seek for what scraps of progress can be made.

It is hardly a desirable picture, but a left-wing resurgence may strike voters as no more appetizing now than it was two years ago. They may also be upset at the left’s role in making council ungovernable, and the suspicion that the legal action against the mayor was simply another front in the left’s ongoing effort to seize back what it lost at the ballot box. The best-known figure in the anti-Ford forces, Adam Vaughan, inspires as much or more alarm as does the prospect of two more years of the Ford brothers. The prospect of Mayor Vaughan, in fact, might have been the one strong argument Mr. Ford had for seeking re-election in two years time.

He may not now get that opportunity. It remains unclear precisely how the process of choosing a new full-time mayor will operate – whether there is an early election, or whether an interim mayor fills out the rest of the mayor’s term. It seems a certain bet at this point that Mr. Ford will do all he can to get his job back, but if he’s forced to wait two years for the opportunity, circumstances could play a big part in his hopes. A competent temporary replacement might impress voters enough that they become even more hesitant to give him another chance. Similarly, a period of relative calm – and almost anything would be calmer than the circus that has become the norm at city hall — could well leave voters wanting more of the same.

Torontonians would no doubt be happy to see an end to the partisan antics and constant histrionics that fill in for the lack of sound judgment at city hall. A compromise figure who could save the city from another extended period of right versus left might be seized on with gratitude. It might make life at city hall a lot less interesting, but Torontonians can be forgiven if they’re a bit weary of living in interesting times.